Friday, December 2, 2011

Oh, dear.

Somehow it has been almost a month since my last blog update and more like 2 months since I made a blog post that wasn't about sales or new products or shop updates. Not that this is a non-sales, non-new product post, because in about 3 paragraphs I'm going to talk about a new product. I just telling you that I feel bad about not having actual content. 7LetterDebroah says that even feeling bad about it is blog worthy. She also says a lot of business choices I make are blog worthy because people don't realize what it takes to run a home-based micro business.

Today's fun fact: A micro business is a business with 1-6 employees and less than a million or so in sales. So I guess I'm a mini-micro business. Let's blog about it! :)

I'm still feeling a little weird about posting non-wool, non-yarn stuff in the business blog (the one you're reading). I'm toying with the idea of reviving my old blog, Lehcar Blogs for non-Dyeabolical, non-knitting posts. I've only been toying with this idea for about 3 hours, so it might be a bit before I actually get around to posting there.

So what have you all been up to? I've been ridiculously insanely busy with work. My yarns are flying out of the door at Ewe Knits in Webster Groves, sales are pretty good online, I just dyed a color called Kakao yarns to match the Kakao Chocolate logo which was fun (coming soon to my shop), I added a shopping cart to dyeabolical.com but not sure what the heck to do with it since most of my sales are through etsy, the fiber and sock clubs are doing decently, Suzanne Shankman Designs used my yarn in a craft demonstration on a local tv show, and I finally hit a pace I could keep up with. So naturally, being all caught up and just the right amount of busy, I decided to bring in 2 or 3 new lines of product and completely overwhelm myself.

Luckily, these 2 or 3 (or 4) new lines are lines that I could easily get someone to help me. Or at least it would be easy if I had a separate studio space that wasn't also my living space and wasn't horribly embarrassed to have any one see how I really live when the crafting hits the fan. It sort of looks like someone had an epic crafting/potluck party in here or like a combo Michael's/McDonalds exploded in here or something involving piles of wool, fabric and dishes.

Hand painted silk ribbon, soon to be joined by hand dyed fabric and handmade quilting tape.

I'm sort of (extremely) tempted to start up a different shop to sell this ribbon and fabric stuff that I've gotten in to the last few weeks. It would be a lot easier to do local shows if I only had to pack up the fabric and ribbon and didn't have to bring along the epically heavy Dyeabolical displays, which I would have to do if I sold under the name "Dyeabolical". Plus, changing from Dyeabolical Yarns to Dyeabolical Crafts would mean changing the focus of the shop and I just now have the shop where I want it. There is some argument that selling hand dyed sewing supplies in the Dyeabolical shop means I would be selling to a built-in audience, but there is also an argument that selling hand dyed sewing supplies dilutes the Dyeabolical brand which sells to a very specific clientele. Sigh. Tell me what to do, Internet.

In other news, I still knit! I finished a sweater and a pair of socks last month!

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About Me

This blog is a mix of both personal and professional. You will find official shop news, personal knitting, book talk, podcast info, and the occasional tutorial or pattern.

When I'm not podcasting or dyeing, I am deliriously happy to sit at home knitting, spinning, reading, and trying not to fall down the Pinterest rabbit hole. Other hobbies include looking at pictures of cats, using commas in creative and infuriating ways, and drinking a quantity of coffee that my doctor calls "alarming".

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